Off The Ball Official Thread <Mod Note - Post #1, #533, #6651>

Bigbok

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Its not a matter of opinion, its a matter of fact. He is Irish, he was born in Ireland.

You mightn't like to recognize that, you might not care about his type of Irishness, but he is 100% Irish.

Do you have the same issue with Sean Cavanagh or Oisin McConville?

So heaslip is Israeli as was born in Israel,OGARA is American,and loads more born abroad including uk.

Tell me how

Only caught part of the Chris Waddle interview last night.

Did enjoy the start of the show where Kilbane was telling Joe his opinion on Waddle and the story where Dean Saunders asked a room full of footballers who was the best one there and Alan Shearer reacted like he expected to win but most of them picked Waddle.

He could have chosen to not tell that story as it was poking fun at Alan Shearer who he still kind of works with but he went ahead with it. Good addition to the show.

galwaylad14

Ive seen it mentioned here a few times in the last few pages, what happened with Ewan McKenna and OTB?

elefant

galwaylad14 wrote: »

Ive seen it mentioned here a few times in the last few pages, what happened with Ewan McKenna and OTB?

He gave them some grief on twitter about the Sunday Paper Review at the weekend. He reckoned it was like a big advertising slot for the Sunday Independent because they spent almost the entire show discussing it.
Joe Molloy got very defensive in response.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

pc7

Patww79 wrote: »

Is there history there too?

Well Ewan was lined up to interview lance armstrong at some conference in Dublin and ger did a phone interview with lance first and then lance pulled out. Which he probably would have but wasn't expecting hard questions from Ger, so maybe Ewan blames ger a bit.

elefant

pc7 wrote: »

Well Ewan was lined up to interview lance armstrong at some conference in Dublin and ger did a phone interview with lance first and then lance pulled out. Which he probably would have but wasn't expecting hard questions from Ger, so maybe Ewan blames ger a bit.

He did an interview on OTB a few days later though, and he didn't seem bitter about it at all imo.

pc7

elefant wrote: »

He did an interview on OTB a few days later though, and he didn't seem bitter about it at all imo.

Oh yeah wa that the one where he said he was going to hand Lance a mirror? Which would have been very cringey.
Worth a listen to the lance one again just to hear him ask Ger 'are you a rookie?'

NufcNavan

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I'd disagree, I think he's a very interesting person with a lot to say, and not afraid to say it.

And his achievements in sport in my view go way, way beyond what any other Irish sportsperson has ever achieved. Look at him in South Africa this week - he is the draw, he is what thousands and thousands of people are coming out to see in Capetown or wherever it was.

Fair enough. I'd argue he has a lot to say but never really puts much thought into what he has to say. His changing opinions on his own identity, his slating of the Ryder Cup in the past and his changing reasons for not playing in the Olympics back that up.

I never questioned his ability as a draw. I saw him in person at the Irish Open last year and he is box office. No denying that.

Californeeway

Tell me how wrote: »

Only caught part of the Chris Waddle interview last night.

Did enjoy the start of the show where Kilbane was telling Joe his opinion on Waddle and the story where Dean Saunders asked a room full of footballers who was the best one there and Alan Shearer reacted like he expected to win but most of them picked Waddle.

He could have chosen to not tell that story as it was poking fun at Alan Shearer who he still kind of works with but he went ahead with it. Good addition to the show.

Same here, I hope it's podcasted as the bits I caught were brilliant. Waddle talking about hearing the sound of the crowds chairs moving every time he got the ball playing for England was a great image. Then contrasting that playing pub league and some centre half shouting to his young full back ‘he’s only got one trick!'.

threein99

Californeeway wrote: »

Same here, I hope it's podcasted as the bits I caught were brilliant. Waddle talking about hearing the sound of the crowds chairs moving every time he got the ball playing for England was a great image. Then contrasting that playing pub league and some centre half shouting to his young full back ‘he’s only got one trick!'.

It was up on podcast no long after the show ending

pc7

NufcNavan wrote: »

. His changing opinions on his own identity, his slating of the Ryder Cup in the past and his changing reasons for not playing in the Olympics back that up.

That could be age too and lack of maturity, he's still pretty young.

siblers

Anyone listen to the Chris Waddle interview? Found it really entertaining, Joe and Kilbane did a great job in their choice of questions and Waddle was brilliant with his answers

Also, did anyone listen to Brendan Griffin on tonight's show? He was part of a committee that were putting questions forward to a panel regarding sports such as gender quota, community involvement in isolated areas, drug use etc. Ger ripped him apart, felt a bit bad for Brendan as he lives 10 mins away from me and does work his ass off so I know he isn't a lazy politician, although Ger was correct in how the committee approached their questions..essentially they were asking questions for the sake of it and there didn't seem to be any plan of action to use the board's answer to build up a list of recommendations.

elefant

siblers wrote: »

Also, did anyone listen to Brendan Griffin on tonight's show? He was part of a committee that were putting questions forward to a panel regarding sports such as gender quota, community involvement in isolated areas, drug use etc. Ger ripped him apart, felt a bit bad for Brendan as he lives 10 mins away from me and does work his ass off so I know he isn't a lazy politician, although Ger was correct in how the committee approached their questions..essentially they were asking questions for the sake of it and there didn't seem to be any plan of action to use the board's answer to build up a list of recommendations.

Very interesting (for me anyway) to learn that this is just the accepted way that these committees work. In any line of business this kind of approach would be laughed out the door. Pretty pathetic stuff.

Tombo2001

siblers wrote: »

Anyone listen to the Chris Waddle interview? Found it really entertaining, Joe and Kilbane did a great job in their choice of questions and Waddle was brilliant with his answers

Also, did anyone listen to Brendan Griffin on tonight's show? He was part of a committee that were putting questions forward to a panel regarding sports such as gender quota, community involvement in isolated areas, drug use etc. Ger ripped him apart, felt a bit bad for Brendan as he lives 10 mins away from me and does work his ass off so I know he isn't a lazy politician, although Ger was correct in how the committee approached their questions..essentially they were asking questions for the sake of it and there didn't seem to be any plan of action to use the board's answer to build up a list of recommendations.

On a scale of 1 - 10 of Easy to Hard.... :

Ripping people apart is a 1.

Proposing workable measures to address real problems that people are happy with at the time of implementation (as opposed to with hindsight) is a 10.

Newstalk are in no place to talk about gender quota; they have SFA female presenters in general; they have never had a female host on Off The Ball, or indeed a regular female contributor, and they very rarely cover womens sport.

Fionnuala Britton fantastic finish in the Antrim XC last week, and a brilliant second in Edinburgh the week before in a world class field. What was OTB's take on this? One of our only genuinely world class athletes in any discipline.....sure why does that matter when Jonny Sexton tweaked his hamstring...

enzo roco

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Newstalk are in no place to talk about gender quota; they have SFA female presenters in general; they have never had a female host on Off The Ball, or indeed a regular female contributor, and they very rarely cover womens sport.

Fionnuala Britton fantastic finish in the Antrim XC last week, and a brilliant second in Edinburgh the week before in a world class field. What was OTB's take on this? One of our only genuinely world class athletes in any discipline.....sure why does that matter when Jonny Sexton tweaked his hamstring...

The thing is, a greater number of people are more interested in sexton injured than McCormacks victory. That's the way it is.
Like the way Liverpool and man utd are discussed more than league of Ireland clubs. It's the way it is...
Anyway, about gender quotas and that rubbish. The fact is the majority of women in Ireland are just not that interested in sport. The otb audience is obviously mainly male.

If women want it all equal, how about getting involved in sport, playing and watching, instead of just moaning about not enough women on sports tv shows and sports radio.

I personally, do not know one adult woman that is involved in sport.

Tombo2001

enzo roco wrote: »

The thing is, a greater number of people are more interested in sexton injured than McCormacks victory. That's the way it is.
Like the way Liverpool and man utd are discussed more than league of Ireland clubs. It's the way it is...
Anyway, about gender quotas and that rubbish. The fact is the majority of women in Ireland are just not that interested in sport. The otb audience is obviously mainly male.

If women want it all equal, how about getting involved in sport, playing and watching, instead of just moaning about not enough women on sports tv shows and sports radio.

I personally, do not know one adult woman that is involved in sport.

Completely disagree - 30 years ago, a radio newstalk show wouldn't have been running discussions on Ollie Campbells hamstring.; and if you'd have asked you'd be told the audience just isn't there for it.

Now it seems it is.

But you are happy to say 'women just aren't interested in sport'.....'the audience just isn't there for it'

Loads of women do sport. its a circular thing - the more coverage it gets, the more people get interested in it.

Being honest - I would genuinely question whether men are interested in sport.

They are interested in brands - Leinster rugby, Manchester United, Conor McGregor.

There could be a world class Badminton player or Marathon runner or Gymnast in Dublin; and if you were genuinely interested in Sport - the athletic feat of high level performance - then you'd want to see them in action. But most of the Newstalk audience couldn't give a f88k; they don't know the first thing about sport......they know about Jose Mourinho.....

Dots1982

Tombo2001 wrote: »

There could be a world class Badminton player or Marathon runner or Gymnast in Dublin

There could be..but there isn't.. so it's very hard to tell

Tombo2001

Dots1982 wrote: »

There could be..but there isn't.. so it's very hard to tell

You obviously haven't come across Fionnuala Britton or Scott Evans so, which kind of proves my point.

Dots1982

Tombo2001 wrote: »

You obviously haven't come across Fionnuala Britton or Scott Evans so, which kind of proves my point.

Scott Evans is ranked the 131st best badminton player in the world, you think the brits, the french or say... the slovaks would go gaga for a guy who's 131st in the world at something?

enzo roco

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Completely disagree - 30 years ago, a radio newstalk show wouldn't have been running discussions on Ollie Campbells hamstring.; and if you'd have asked you'd be told the audience just isn't there for it.

Now it seems it is.

But you are happy to say 'women just aren't interested in sport'.....'the audience just isn't there for it'

Loads of women do sport. its a circular thing - the more coverage it gets, the more people get interested in it.

Being honest - I would genuinely question whether men are interested in sport.

They are interested in brands - Leinster rugby, Manchester United, Conor McGregor.

There could be a world class Badminton player or Marathon runner or Gymnast in Dublin; and if you were genuinely interested in Sport - the athletic feat of high level performance - then you'd want to see them in action. But most of the Newstalk audience couldn't give a f88k; they don't know the first thing about sport......they know about Jose Mourinho.....

By reading this post, you actually do agree with me, but you're frustrated by the average sports fan.
And I agree with you. The average listener to otb wouldn't know who Scott Evans is. But what's the point in moaning about it???
I agree with you on your point about Ollie Campbell. So how did rugby turn it around? How did it become the third biggest sport in the country?
Maybe other sports should follow, and also women's sports should follow too.

I disagree with you about loads of women do sport. The majority in this country don't, the majority of women don't want to watch women's sport. Look at any intercounty gaa match, especially when they play in croke Park, the demand isn't there to have TV and radio show/chat about the matches... It's a cut throat business, whatever the listeners want, give it to them to get the advertising in.

I also agree with your point about brands and sport. But that's the way it is.
Look at the soccer and rugby section on boards, sport is like a soap opera at times.

Newstalk try to give the audience what they want. But the majority aren't interested in women's sport.

enzo roco

Dots1982 wrote: »

There could be..but there isn't.. so it's very hard to tell

I agree with you.
When osullivan was the best, she was all over TV and papers, and would be discussed on otb if it existed.
Same goes with Taylor. When ever she is fighting, she is always discussed.

Dots1982

enzo roco wrote: »

I agree with you.
When osullivan was the best, she was all over TV and papers, and would be discussed on otb if it existed.
Same goes with Taylor. When ever she is fighting, she is always discussed.

Pretty much it, we are obsessed with brands like Manchester United and the PL alright but don't try and tell me the likes of the O'Donovan's or other truly world class achievers in other sports are ignored.

Tombo2001

Dots1982 wrote: »

Scott Evans is ranked the 131st best badminton player in the world, you think the brits, the french or say... the slovaks would go gaga for a guy who's 131st in the world at something?

The Olympics is the premier competition globally for Badminton.

Scott Evans was ranked in the top ten in the Olympics results, having reached the quarter finals.

World class performance by world class player.

Rankings like any other individual sport depend to some degree on how many tournaments a player participates in.

Dots1982

Tombo2001 wrote: »

The Olympics is the premier competition globally for Badminton.

Scott Evans was ranked in the top ten in the Olympics results, having reached the quarter finals.

World class performance by world class player.

Rankings like any other individual sport depend to some degree on how many tournaments a player participates in.

And he got recognition for that at the time but if you think Irish sports fans are odd to not be buying subscriptions en masse to Badminton TV to keep tabs on his next game then you are expecting too much.

What are you expecting Irish people to do for world no. 131 Scott Evans? What do you think other nationalities would do?

Tombo2001

enzo roco wrote: »

By reading this post, you actually do agree with me, but you're frustrated by the average sports fan.
And I agree with you. The average listener to otb wouldn't know who Scott Evans is. But what's the point in moaning about it???
I agree with you on your point about Ollie Campbell. So how did rugby turn it around? How did it become the third biggest sport in the country?
Maybe other sports should follow, and also women's sports should follow too.

I disagree with you about loads of women do sport. The majority in this country don't, the majority of women don't want to watch women's sport. Look at any intercounty gaa match, especially when they play in croke Park, the demand isn't there to have TV and radio show/chat about the matches... It's a cut throat business, whatever the listeners want, give it to them to get the advertising in.

I also agree with your point about brands and sport. But that's the way it is.
Look at the soccer and rugby section on boards, sport is like a soap opera at times.

Newstalk try to give the audience what they want. But the majority aren't interested in women's sport.

I'd say more frustrated by the coverage of sport.

Look at the bigger picture - I think generally its a positive thing for both men and women, boys and girls, to participate in sport and be interested in sport.

But from a very very very early age, the focus in sport is on men and boys. I don't mean at grassroots, where plenty of girls participate in a wide range or sport. But what they see on Tv; the media hype around sport is 95% around mens sport. Open a sports supplement in the indo or Irish Times on any given day; and its 95% mens sport.

How does that encourage girls to become interested in sport? it doesn't. The role models aren't there.

They could be - take Emma Byrne; irish International and goalkeeper for Arsenal for the past 15 years. Won a Champions League with Arsenal. Do you know which year? Who has ever heard of her? But if an Irish man did this, we'd be all over it.

You say people aren't interested.

I say, give Emma Byrne a proper profile and she would have a huge fanbase among young boys and girls in Ireland.

But the media doesn't do that 'because the audience isn't there' supposedly.

To be fair to the GAA - they are picking up on this opportunity in a big way, and in the next 20 years I'd say we'll get to the point where Ladies GAA finals are sell-outs just like the Mens in Croke park.

Tombo2001

Dots1982 wrote: »

And he got recognition for that at the time but if you think Irish sports fans are odd to not be buying subscriptions en masse to Badminton TV to keep tabs on his next game then you are expecting too much.

What are you expecting Irish people to do for world no. 131 Scott Evans? What do you think other nationalities would do?

Obviously you see sports fandom very much in terms of what you can watch on the telly.

Do you sneer at the same way at second division footballers Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan who managed the magnificent achievement of reaching the last 16 in Europe.....

Dots1982

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Obviously you see sports fandom very much in terms of what you can watch on the telly.

Do you sneer at the same way at second division footballers Robbie Brady and Wes Hoolahan who managed the magnificent achievement of reaching the last 16 in Europe.....

Answer the question and don't try to deflect. What should Irish people do for Scott Evans now that he reached the quarter finals of the olympics so that they can be like other countries that celebrate such achievements?

Tombo2001

Dots1982 wrote: »

Answer the question and don't try to deflect. What should Irish people do for Scott Evans now that he reached the quarter finals of the olympics so that they can be like other countries that celebrate such achievements?

Why should Irish people do anything for Scott Evans? Not sure why you are asking me that.

My point was
(I) He is a world class badminton player; as evidenced by his Olympics performance. I think its unarguable. Contradict that if you will, your choice - go on, refer again to his world ranking because I don't think you've done that enough times yet.

18 months ago he was ranked in the Top 25 in the world rankings by the way.

(II) People who are interested in 'sport' - i.e. top class athletes and how they perform - might be interested to watch a World Class badminton player if they were from Dublin and playing in competition in Dublin. Its an incredibly athletic and demanding sport; and also incidentally, the fifth biggest participation sport in the world - which makes his achievement even more incredible.

http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/final.htm


(III) Generally, people aren't interested.

Cue the wider point; people aren't interested in watching top class sport per se; they are interested in brands - a second string Man U team comes over to pass the ball around for 90 minutes; we are all paying 60 quid to salivate over it at the Aviva.

Dots1982

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Why should Irish people do anything for Scott Evans? Not sure why you are asking me that.

My point was
(I) He is a world class badminton player; as evidenced by his Olympics performance. I think its unarguable. Contradict that if you will, your choice - go on, refer again to his world ranking because I don't think you've done that enough times yet.

18 months ago he was ranked in the Top 25 in the world rankings by the way.

(II) People who are interested in 'sport' - i.e. top class athletes and how they perform - might be interested to watch a World Class badminton player if they were from Dublin and playing in competition in Dublin. Its an incredibly athletic and demanding sport; and also incidentally, the fifth biggest participation sport in the world - which makes his achievement even more incredible.

http://www.topendsports.com/world/lists/popular-sport/final.htm


(III) Generally, people aren't interested.

Cue the wider point; people aren't interested in watching top class sport per se; they are interested in brands - a second string Man U team comes over to pass the ball around for 90 minutes; we are all paying 60 quid to salivate over it at the Aviva.

I have no disagreement with you on the soccer stuff.

You said Irish men aren't really interested in sport generally because they didn't show the requisite appreciation (you haven't defined what was the adequate appreciation to be considered true sports fans) for a badminton player who was briefly in the Top 25 in the world and got to the QFs in the Olympics and that for me is nonsense.